39 weeks

Okay, so I'm not sure where the last 9 months have gone, but they sure went by really fast... We have 4 days until our due date (January 4th). Today is the last day of the year 2009 and we are planning on staying in and just watching movies all night. Not very exciting, but due to my ready-to-pop condition, it sounds like just what the doctor ordered - comfortable, no drinking, no dancing, no yelling, just sitting back under a warm blanket with Doug, sipping hot chocolate... Yes, this is definitely the way to go into 2010!

We had one of our usual prenatal visits yesterday. Everything seems to be going according to schedule and everything seems to be just fine. Heart rate for both me and the baby - good, my blood pressure - good, even my weight drop (2kg's in a week and a half) didn't seem to concern my doctor. She says this late in the pregnancy it won't affect anything. I guess I'll just trust her on it... We scheduled me one last prenatal visit but it will be after my due date, so I only go if the baby has not been born, yet. My due date is this upcoming Monday, the prenatal visit is the following Friday, and if the baby is still not born the following Monday (the 11th), the doc says they will induce me. Exciting!!! That means that I will be a mom for real the latest on the 11th!!!!:) Doug is just starting to panic a little bit, but he is holding it together very well, I am definitely impressed.

The nursery is complete now, we just have to put away some of the extra stuff that's laying around, such as empty boxes and extra cloths that I decided not to put to use. Hopefully we will finish the last few little things this weekend and then I will post some pictures of the finished room. Doug has been working long hours, so I try not to make him do too much extra stuff during the week, but today they are shutting down an hour and a half early, and he has a long weekend, so we should be able to let him rest and recharge AND get some stuff done this weekend. We shall see. With my luck I'll plan everything for tomorrow morning and have the baby tonight! LOL It's all good, I think I'm ready. Well, as ready as I'm ever going to be... My bag is packed, the nursery - although cluttered at this point - is functional, and we can't wait to meet our first child! So yeah, BRING IT ON!!!:)

37 weeks

Here's a video not for the faint of heart...:)

Yes, that is a mixture of baby moving and Braxton-Hicks kicking in...

Baby likes to play with Doug...

Finally - picture update!!!

Okay, so I've been slacking AND I had technical difficulties... but the pictures have finally arrived! It's a bit of a chronological mess, so watch for dates and labels!!!

32 weeks and counting...

37 weeks - almost Christmas!
36 weeks and a bit...

More pictures and maybe even videos to come!

33 weeks

33 weeks and counting! I have been slacking with the blog posting lately, but I am trying to catch up now! Hopefully I will finally get my pictures downloaded and sorted out this weekend, then I can go back and add a bunch of pictures to my newest entries. I figured I'll try to get caught up on the writing part until then.

Let's see, status report for 33 weeks:

- Had my usual bi-weekly doctor's visit - gained 7 lbs, everything else is okay. Due to my little episode at the prenatal class, doc sent me for some blood work and to check up on my heart, just in case. Turns out I need iron. Weird. I've always had tons of iron in my blood. Well, I guess baby decided to take it all!:) I will pick up the prescription at my next appointment on the 5th.

- Baby moves around all day now, with short breaks! It doesn't hurt, but it definitely catches my attention when he turns sideways or decides to test how far he can stretch a certain way! I can sit slouched down on the couch for hours, watching my belly move. I'm going to miss this, I think. Doug loves to rub my belly and "play" with the baby:) I'm so glad he is this involved/excited!

- We had Doug's parents over for a fondue dinner. It turned out great! We had good food with good conversation. Everyone seemed to have enjoyed it. I hope we'll get to do it again!

It's almost time to put up the Christmas tree!!! We decided to wait until December this year:)

Also this week, we babysat for Cassie and Kyle!!! They went to a hockey game so we got to watch Ryker alone for the first time between about 5:30pm and 11pm! I know, I know, it doesn't sound like a big achievement, but it was a first, so I am very excited about it!:) We had a great time playing with him and I even got to change his diaper and feed him some baby food. He goes nuts for Finding Nemo!!! He thinks clown fish are the greatest thing, ever!!!:) The babysitting experience went great, even though around 10pm-ish he started fussing a little bit since he has never been put to bed without his parents before. He got pretty upset because he got really tired but refused to sleep because he missed mommy and daddy. It was really sad! You know that sad babble only babies can do, the kind that would make a happy, well-balanced person kill for them, just to make them feel better?!? But the afternoon/evening was an overall success and we hope to follow it up with many more! The first time is always the hardest!

Baby shower!!!!:)

So when Doug and I arrived to Cassie and Kyle's last night to babysit for them while they went out to the movies for Kyle's birthday, I got the biggest surprise ever!!! Turned out that Doug was stalling because everyone knew that they were throwing me a surprise baby shower!!!:) Cassie and Courtney did the hosting, with Amanda, Crystal and myself as the guests. We had a great time! There was tons of food and snacks and non-alcoholic drinks. There was even a bunch of Hungarian foods!!! The girls really went out of their way to make me happy! They made paprikas csirke, husos palacsinta and dios bejgli! Everything turned out awesome! Apparently they got the recipes online and just sort of guessed what everything was supposed to look like and taste like, which makes the feat that much more impressive, because everything ended up being PERFECT!!! We played games and chatted all afternoon. Turns out I can change a diaper! Good to know, never tried it before! Well, okay, so I can put a diaper on a teddy bear blindfolded. Same thing, right?:) I also learned that drinking from a baby bottle is hard work! At least now I know why some babies are always pissed off! I would be, too, if I had to work that hard for that little food! I got cool cards and presents, and got to spend the entire afternoon and evening with my closest girl friends!!! It was great!:) It was the perfect baby shower!!! Thanks, girls!!!!:)

32 weeks

Much has happened in the last week or so! First of all I went and got my H1N1 shot. It took me a while to decide to get it, but once I have made up my mind, I was going to stick with it no matter what! The reason it took me so long to decide was all the conflicting and incomplete information I was getting everywhere. If one official website/news article says get it, the other says, don't get it and there's also two different serums out there, one with additives and one without, well, that's a lot of ifs and buts! If it was just me, I wouldn't have gotten the shot to start out with. I haven't gotten the flu shot for like 10 years and some years I catch it, some years I don't. The year I got the shot, I did get it, pretty badly, too. So anyways, this was for the baby. But I wanted to know what I was getting before I got to the clinic. My doctor carefully avoided the topic of which serum to get, the news said get it without additives, while the government told me to get it with additives, because I am over 20 weeks pregnant. Now this would have made a way better long term impression on me if the same government didn't give me the one without additives when I showed up at the clinic... Anyway...

Just for the future, so I will remember - H1N1 (or swine flu) has everyone panicking, there's tons of issues with Canada running out of the serum and people getting really sick and dieing, and now with the priority groups being served with the available serum while they wait on more to arrive... The news is full of people who are pointing fingers at members of the "general public" who jumped the immunization lines. It's pretty crazy actually! The media hype is so powerful that it's hard to tell how bad the situation really is.

We also had our Prenatal class today... Well, let's just say today was a weird, weird day and I am not proud of myself...

The class started at 9 am. By the time we were standing around the door, waiting to be let in, I was feeling weak and slightly light headed. I kid you not, by 10 am, I was not feeling well to the point where I put my head on Doug's shoulder and the next thing I remember is that I am in a strange room where a bunch of people are looking at me funny. I guess I fainted and I had no clue where I was when I came to. I was still in the same class room, but took me a good 5 minutes to puzzle that together. Good times. Then I just couldn't get any better, for the next half an hour I kept drifting in and out and then made a bee-line for the garbage can and there went my breakfast. I spent the next 20 minutes in a hallway throwing up. Yup. Then we watched some birthing story videos and I found them so sweet and emotional that I kept crying (and trying to hide it). So yes, by noon (lunch break) I was that girl who kept fainting, throwing up and crying. Great story to tell my kid. Doug's only comment (after making sure I was okay, of course) was that the kid will be grounded for this one.

I guess this is all I have to share for now, but I am sure there will be more. Hopefully I will get some less horrific and humiliating experiences to write about. Cause this was WEIRD. Doug thinks it was the heat inside the classroom and the instructor kept telling me that there's always one person who faints due to the heat, too, but that just doesn't make me feel better at this point. Again, this was not one of the highlights of my pregnancy!!! (But it will sure make a great story to tell my kid!... Some day...)

31 weeks

31 weeks and counting...

Had my usual bi-weekly check-up and everything is going great. The baby is about 3 lbs now (I haven't gained any since the last check-up) and his/her heart rate is strong. I am a bit sore and have issues sleeping, but other than that I feel very lucky so far, I really don't have much to complain about.

This is my last week at work and I am spending it training my replacement. I love training people! Maybe I should consider that when deciding on my next career path...

Doug's been really great so far, I don't think I mention this often enough. He really goes out of his way to make sure I am comfortable and happy (and well-fed...:P), even drives me downtown to my bi-weekly doctor's appointments. We talk a lot - discuss stuff and come up with plans of all sorts. He is THE AWESOME.

I have a new picture to add to the belly-collection: